Settings Screen Options for Legacy Network-Connected Tablo DVRs

This article refers to legacy network-connected Tablo TV Settings. For the Settings screen on the new 4th Gen Tablo, visit this page.

Click here to see SETTINGS screen details for TV-connected Tablo DVRs like Tablo DUAL HDMI.

The Tablo SETTINGS screen covers basic information and your Tablo's configurable settings. 

The first section shows the status of your Tablo's subscription. Information for subscription management and registration can be found here.

HARD DRIVE: 

Identifies the hard drive, its status, capacity and the amount of storage space that is used. If the hard drive becomes corrupted and unusable, a format option will be displayed to allow the drive to be reformatted to make it usable again.

RECORDING QUALITY:

The resolution of the video recorded on the hard drive can be selected using this control. The options are 1080p, 720p and Standard Definition (480p). A HD 720p 3 Mbps is also available for those who wish for HD 720p video but are experiencing buffering.

We have found that the best tradeoff in terms of the size of the recording, best use of Wi-Fi bandwidth and quality of the recording is 720p. Selecting 1080p will consume more bandwidth over the Wi-Fi network, will use more space on your disk and may not provide a significant improvement in quality.  

Your recording quality also impacts the way your Tablo stores video on your hard drive.

For example: Recording Quality set at 720p = 720p broadcast stored as 720p. Similarly, a 1080i broadcast will be transcoded to 720p and stored on the hard drive as a 720p recording.

If you are streaming video to multiple devices at the same time and experience stuttering (the video pauses and then resumes every few minutes), try reducing the recording quality. However, note that this will only affect new recordings and Live TV. Your old recordings will remain at the bandwidth specified by the quality setting when they were recorded.

LED:

The LED feature toggles the Tablo's blue light on the box. Enabling this feature will turn the light on, disabling it will turn it off. We recommend not turning the LED off, it's a valuable reporting tool.

TABLO CONNECT:

When enabled, this feature allows you to connect to your Tablo with a paired device from outside of the network. For more information on Tablo Connect view this article.

CHANNELS: 

EDIT LOCATION: This will bring up the LOCATION dialog screen to allow you to change the location of your  Tablo. Location is used to find the correct guide data for the broadcast stations in your area. If this is not set to your physical location, incorrect guide data will be displayed.

EDIT CHANNEL LINEUP: This will bring up the CHANNEL dialog screen which allows you to rescan for channels or to change the selection of channels that you would like included in the GUIDE and LIVE TV screens.

SMART SCHEDULING:

DON'T RECORD DUPLICATES: With this setting enabled, Tablo will not record the same airing (TV show or Movie) more than once if a copy already exists on your Tablo's hard drive. 

EXTEND LIVE RECORDINGS:  With this feature enabled, the Tablo will automatically extend any live broadcasts by 30 minutes.

Prior to Firmware update 2.2.58 this feature would extend any live broadcast by up to 50% of their original length. If you are on this version or later, see manual recording or Start/Stop times here.

ENABLE FAST LIVE TV STARTUP: This feature will speed up the time it takes for your Tablo to begin playing a live TV channel. If you are experiencing buffering, try disabling this feature. Your Tablo will take a few seconds longer to begin playing airings, however, this reduces the chances of buffering mid-stream.

ENABLE LEANBACK MODE (TV INTERFACE): This feature enables controller and keyboard navigation for the Tablo web app at http://my.tablotv.com/. Instead of using the mouse, all navigation is triggered by using the keyboard arrow keys and space bar.

ABOUT:

This will let you know the software revisions running on your Tablo and app. If a new version of the Tablo software is available, the software version information will be a selectable link. Selecting the link will begin the update process. If there are any firmware updates available for the Tablo, they will appear in this section next to the TABLO DEVICE field.